Martian Manhunter Reconnects with Alien Heritage in Supergirl Season 3

Supergirlseason 3 further explore Martian Manhunter’s origins and his alien lineage. The CW series is gearing up for its first comeback outing on the channel after it made the jump from its original broadcasting station, CBS. Coming off of a very eventful sophomore year finale, fans can expect the finale to deal with some of its aftermath while also laying the grounds for this installment’s bigger narrative trajectory.

While we’re expectedly going to be busy following Kara in her brand new adventures as National City’s local crime-fighting hero on the heels of losing Mon-El (Chris Wood), Supergirl will also have some other interesting subplots that are also worth it to follow on a weekly basis – including that of Green Martian, J’onn J’onzz. The character, which assumed a new persona when he first came to Earth as Hank Henshaw, served as the Director of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations. And even though that his secret identity was eventually revealed, President of the United States pardoned him and also reinstated him as the D.E.O.’s chief. We get a little bit more on Manhunter’s backstory with the arrival of his father, M’yrnn J’onnz played by Carl Lumbly, who coincidentally voiced J’onn J’onnz in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series.

Sitting down with EWto promote the upcoming season 3 primer of Supergirl, series executive producer Andrew Kreisberg gives us a preview of what we can expect on the dynamic between the father and son, as well as, how it will affect Henshaw’s perspective as an adopted Earthling:

“Carl Lumbly will be joining as J’onn’s father. First of all, he’s so amazing. J’onn has always felt like an alien. He spent 300 years on Earth and he’s always felt different, and other, and felt people were afraid of him, and has always had to hide who he really was. The irony is he becomes reconnected with his father and his father thinks, ‘Oh my God, you’ve gone so Earth-man.’ So for J’onn, it’s this realization that he’s not quite the alien that he thought he was, and what that means to him, and if we’re reconnecting with his Martian heritage, how important is that to him?”

It seems like both Kara and Henshaw are going through similar tropes this season with regard to their respective identities as adopted human beings who originated from a different planet. Obviously, Supergirl’s story will be at the forefront of the show, but having a running parallel narrative with J’onn just reinforces this season’s theme of fleshing out character origins that would further establish them as narrative gameplayers moving forward.